I found the premise of Braised Pork to be really intriguing, but then the story didn't quite deliver. I felt like, for the first 75% of the book, I was holding my breath, tense with the build-up An was showing. The pacing and the prose were both good, and it was exciting to embark on this adventure, this quest, with Jia Jia. But ultimately, the ending of the story was unsatisfying, and felt like it belonged to a different story, one that was introduced and resolved in the last quarter of the book. None of the questions that were raised in the blurb or the beginning of the novel- what happened to Chen Hang? What is his connection to the image of the fish-man?- are addressed. Maybe that's for the best, as ultimately this is Jia Jia's story, and her life is said to begin only with Chen Hang's death, but with the resolution, it still doesn't feel much like Jia Jia's story at all.

To say this novel is like no other would be an understatement. Even now, I am hard-pressed to describe it definitively as one thing or another.

The Pros: What worked for me

The writing style was absolutely beautiful. I liked the way the story would slip into this mystical water world and I wanted to learn more about this alternate reality. 

The plot of the story itself is a mystery because every time you think it is about one thing, something else gets revealed and the story goes in that direction.

The Cons: What I didn't like

I found Jia Jia's character to be abrasive, not just to others around her but to the reader. It was hard to get a read on her when she was constantly shifting and changing in her mindset and it wasn't always apparent when this was happening as there wasn't always a trigger.
I also struggled to understand what this water world was all about. Was it a real place or was it in her imagination? Did it have some basis in some Tibetan folklore? I just needed some more clarity here and it was missing for me.

This story was very unique, unlike anything I've ever encountered before. But this same characteristic about it makes me unsure on my feelings toward it. I think this novel had a very interesting message to convey - but it got lost in translation. There was just too much that I didn't really feel like I understood about the story, and I needed that background in order to fully appreciate it. For those reasons, I'm giving this a 2.5/5 stars.

The first paragraph of this book's description had me absolutely sold: "One autumn morning, Jia Jia walks into the bathroom of her lavish Beijing apartment to find her husband dead. One minute she was breakfasting with him and packing for an upcoming trip, the next, she finds him motionless in their half-full bathtub. Like something out of a dream, next to the tub Jia Jia discovers a pencil sketch of a strange watery figure, an image that swims into Jia Jia’s mind and won’t leave."

And I was not disappointed with the book I had the pleasure of reviewing. An Yu's story and prose is transporting and consuming and has me impatient to read her next book. If you've been looking for a book to escape to and get lost in, this one is for you.

This book is really unique to any other book I’ve read. I was oddly captivated by it and didn’t want to stop reading it even though the magical realism part of the story didn’t exactly sit well with my brain. Still I couldn’t wait to finish it and see what the mystery was about the fish man. I would definitely read more by this author.

Jia Jia's searches for the source of the mysterious sketch she interprets as a 'fish-man.' The drawing that she found next to the dead body of her husband Chen Hang, will launch her from her apartment in Beijing to Tibet. Her travels are a journey of self discovery that reach into her past in order to release her into a new future.
I was not drawn to Jia Jia's story in the way I expected to be. That includes the dream world she flows through, and the character of Ren Qi, whom she met in Tibet, both features that amongst others become somewhat confusing. Not to mention the Fish-man / sculpture discovery in the Tibetan village and its uncanny aspects.
Jai Jai's story transcends the barriers between reality and myth with a very magical / mystical vibe. Yet despite these fascinating aspects, I just wasn't grounded in my reading.

A Grove Atlantic ARC via NetGalley Thanks

Title: Braised Pork
Author: An Yu
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 3.0 out of 5

One morning in autumn, just after breakfast, Jia Jia finds her husband dead in the bathtub of their Beijing apartment. Next to him is a piece of folded paper, a sketch of a strange creature from his dream. He has left her no other sign.

Young, alone, and with many unanswered questions, Jia Jia sets out on a journey. Starting at her neighborhood bar, fueled by anger, bewilderment, curiosity and love, she travels from nocturnal Beijing to the high plains of Tibet, deep into her past in order to arrive at her future.

So…I am not entirely sure why I even finished reading this. Because it was a quick read? That’s probably it. I enjoyed reading about the village culture in Tibet, but Jia Jia’s life was depressing, her lack of options was sad, and her obsession with finding this creature was absurd. There was a hint of magical realism in this, but it also seemed like the hallucinations of a troubled mind, so who’s to say what the truth was?
Excellent writing, but I found the story dark, sad, and virtually pointless, so this is clearly a case of the book not being a good fit for me.

An Yu is from Beijing. Braised Pork is her debut novel.

(Galley courtesy of Grove Atlantic in exchange for an honest review.)

Jia Jia's marriage to Chen Hang is a loveless one, but they knew that going in. Theirs was supposed to be a partnership. In exchange for a comfortable life there were few question asked about Chen Hang's life outside the home and fewer questions answered. So, when Chen Hang decides to travel to Tibet in the wake of a bizarre dream, Jia Jia packed his bag and didn't ask for the details. A month later when Jia Jia comes upon her husband dead in the bathtub of their Beijing apartment with no note but a drawing of his mysterious dream she is all too aware of everything she doesn't know about her husband.

This wasn't exactly what I expected. "Surreal" and "dreamlike" being two of the descriptors I've seen thrown around. Other than the literal dreams included in the story, I didn't find it to be either of those things. I actually found it to be quite clear and concise. To be clear: I wasn't disappointed by the style at all, I really appreciated the directness. I also expected more of a travelogue of sorts. A "in wake of her husband's death, woman goes on search to find herself" kind of thing. This also wasn't very accurate, most of the book being set in her home city of Beijing. Again, I really preferred it this way. My biggest issue with the book being the time that she traveled away.

The story starts as a bit of a mystery; What was her husband's dream and how did he die? That thread vanishes for more or less the majority of the book only to appear again when she begins her travels to Tibet. At that point I had lost interest in the mystery and instead found myself fully invested in her new life and developing relationship in Beijing. I was a bit scrambled by the shift in focus. I would have been happy had the story pursued the mystery from the beginning. I would have been even happier had the mystery been relegated to the subplot it appeared to be at the halfway mark and continued on its course as a story of life after marriage. Even when discovering the answers she had been searching for, I found myself wishing she'd just hurry up and get back to Beijing.

I will say that the story really did pull together in the end with surprising clarity and all loose ends tied up in a bow. More importantly for me it came full circle back to the parts I cared most about, which I loved. Despite losing me a bit in the middle there really is a lot to like about this story and its style.

Honestly I'm not entirely sure how to process this book. I did enjoy the overall theme of Jia Jia's self discovery journey, but the fishman and the water world magical realism aspect was a bit out of my grasp. The characters and overall settings felt flat, like they were only bare sketches. However technically and stylistically, I really enjoyed Yu's writing. Her words flowed like water and she had some nice turns of phrase. Overall this book was not exactly for me, but I appreciate it artistically and I would be interested to try out another one of her stories.

“For her to tell him what he wanted to hear, if she was even able to translate the experience into words, she would have to crack herself open like an egg and let the liquids spill out, leaving nothing for herself.”

Jia Jia finds her husband dead in the bathtub of their Beijing apartment. Next to him is a piece of folded paper, a sketch of a strange creature from his dream. He has left her no other sign.

Happy Pub Day Eve to this ocean of mystery! There is something both familiar and unsettling about Braised Pork— like slipping into a bath to relax, but finding that the water has grown incredibly deep. The whole narrative is steeped in this uncanny feeling, this vastness, and it is absolutely chilling. The prose too, was beautiful and paired well with the magical realism and melancholia in the story. An absolutely mesmerizing debut, while short, it is captivating, dreamy and atmospheric. Basically, everything I yearn for when picking up a shorter read. I wish I could better materialize how much of a gem this is, but if you are ready to get whisked away, Braised Pork releases tomorrow (4/14/20) in the United States!
Thank you to Grove Atlantic who provided me with an Advance Readers Copy in exchange for an honest review.

Although well-written. An Yu’s Braised Pork is one of the most puzzling books I have read. It opens with a modern-day Beijing couple living in a high-rise and on the verge of taking a motorcycle trip to Tibet. For some reason, the husband, Chen Hang, who normally takes only showers, announces that he is going to take a bath. Jia Jia, the wife, begins packing. When she discovers Chen Hang drowned on hands and knees in the tub, she notices a mysterious drawing of a fish with a man’s head lying nearby. Knowing that Chen Hang had recently returned from Tibet, she determines to make the trip without him and arranges for the same guide Chen Hang had hired.

Without giving too much away, Braised Pork is the story of Jia Jia’s search for the fishman and, I believe, for love and internal peace. It is her story of acquaintances with Leo, the Beijing bar owner; Ren Qi, a writer in search of his missing wife; an old Tibetan man known only as “Grandpa,” who plants tulip bulbs that never grow and then vanishes; and the father whom she had never really known. It is the story of mysterious fishman carvings, of trying to find the fishman in black water, of a mysterious old photo, of contemporary Beijng’s encounter with Tibetan mysticism, and of braised pork belly, which appears to be the ultimate Chinese comfort food.

If you enjoy international fiction and challenging symbolism that lies beyond the normal Westerner’s easy understanding, Braised Pork could be a fascinating read. With a bit of online research, I feel that I understand it better. While reading, I must admit to being confused, yet oddly fascinated.
Author An Yu grew up in Beijing but studied creative writing in New York. She writes in English and divides her time between Hong Kong and Paris. This is her debut novel.

Thanks to Grove Press, the author, and NetGalley for an Advance Reader Copy.

This is a strange, intermittently charming but ultimately not quite successful tale, perhaps too remote culturally to offer full satisfaction. It’s the story of an unhappily married woman’s next chapter, as a widow, survivor, artist and lover, tinged by a magical fable, but that surreal dimension doesn’t quite cohere. Nevertheless, there’s plenty of distraction to be found in Jia Jia’s story/quest, and the glimpses of Chinese life and the occasional lyrical sentences offer an originality that transcends the format. Likeable.

An unusual and interesting read that's worthy for being the debut of a writer to watch. The death of Jia Jia's husband sets her off on a journey to understand the meaning of the fish/man drawing she found next to the bathtub where he died. She has a relationship with a bartender, travels around, and well, experiences a lot. There is a theme of water which is the key to this (more than the landscape of Beijing.). Thanks to Nergallry for the ARC. For fans of literary fiction with a dash of magical realism.

“The worst days give us the best memories.”

3.5⭐️ Braised Pork by An Yu is a compelling story of a woman who, in the face of tragedy sets out on a journey to find the truth about her late husband’s obsession.

With magical realism mixed in with an otherwise straightforward narrative, the novel explores the roles of a woman in modern society and how she is shaped by the people around her. By pushing the boundaries between madness and reality, she ultimately rediscovers herself and what she needs to do (and stop doing) in order to find real happiness and self-fulfillment. I love how the main character Jia Jia is so quiet yet so brave, and it’s inspiring how she took back the control of her own life.

Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this wonderful book in exchange for an honest review.

I simply could not get into this book so will not be offering a review. It seemed wordy and just not interesting to me. Thank you anyway for the opportunity to give it a shot..

I don’t even know if I could explain what this is about or what happens, but I really liked it. It was a sort of dreamy story, with great writing and managed to pull me in and connect with me even if I wasn’t sure I totally understood everything in the end.

For me, this is going to be an easy book to recommend for people who are interested in reading Chinese literature without diving straight in to harder hitting novels that deal with things like the Cultural Revolution. It's contemporary in subject matter and tone. It's beautifully written and an interesting exploration into how women tend to give up so much of themselves to a marriage or a family that they often lose themselves. And once the husband or the family is gone? Well, you can either disappear completely or go in search of yourself like Jia Jia. I know that this book isn't going to be for everyone. It has some strange things going on in it and it feels like a waking dream, but I quite enjoyed it.

Thank you to both Grove Atlantic and Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

An interesting debut. The story begins with a straight forward narrative that gets more convoluted as the book progresses. The clutter derails the story for me.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Jai Jai loses her husband to drowning and is left with little resources. She returns to her art, both for a career and to cope with her circumstances, and attempts to paint a drawing that her husband left behind. When she is unsuccessful, she journeys in his footsteps and finds both peace and answers to her questions.

Set in modern-day Beijing, doting housewife Jia Jia finds her husband floating face down in their tub one morning, dead. Next to him - a bizarre drawing of a fish man (Abe Sapien?!). What does it all mean? She sets out to find answers.

… and finds none. Because An Yu’s debut novel Braised Pork is awful! I’ve wanted to read a contemporary Chinese novel for a while and that intriguing premise sounded right up my street. Well, alls I can say is that I can see why Chinese literature isn’t taking the world by storm (unlike its diseases) if this trash is anything to go by.

The story is a meandering zero. Jia Jia starts a relationship with a bartender called Leo which goes nowhere and means nothing. She goes to Tibet to find out about the Fish Man and meets a man looking for his wife - like she’s kinda looking for her husband through the drawing. She used to be an artist who’s now taken up painting again, her first commission being a painting of the Buddha for a couple whose marriage is over - also like her former loveless marriage.

Uh huh…? I can see Yu trying to seem deep and literary in drawing these parallels, but I don’t get any idea what she’s trying to actually say, if anything, because I suspect there’s nothing substantive being said anyway. We spend our whole time with Jia Jia but I don’t feel like I know her at all. She used to be an artist before her husband made her stop but now he’s gone she’s started again. Yay? I mean, was it her dream to paint Buddhas on people’s walls?

Did she really love her husband? He seemed to be only mean and distant to her so why would she care so much to find out what this enigmatic scribbling meant? And on that, couldn’t it just be some random drawing her husband drew? It’s such a cliched literary conceit that it leads to this quest. Not that that leads anywhere interesting either - just more smoke and mirrors.

Like Jia Jia, Yu’s portrayal of Beijing is bland and unimpressive - I got no sense of place or what it’s like to live there; it could be any major metropolitan city. Other things happen - she’s trying to sell her apartment, she reconnects with her estranged father, her aunt’s husband gets in trouble with the authorities - but none of it matters. It’s just padding to beef up a thin storyline.

I would’ve been more forgiving of the book if the story had been better handled - like if we got an idea of why her husband killed himself and the meaning of the Fish Man - but instead Yu abandons her attempts at telling a semi-coherent narrative in favour of murky impressionism that was deeply unsatisfying to read. A vague, confusing, disappointing and very boring novel, don’t believe any hype you might hear about An Yu’s Braised Pork - it is rancid.

I can see why people would rave and love this book but it wasn't really for me. I'm afraid that this was both a little too weird and too mundane for my personal taste. There are simply too many dead ends and emotional flatness to feel like I could invest in this book. The overall message felt too simple or mundane to have had to wade through all the symbolism.